It saddens those of us who once felt Nightline was the best news program on television. But with the gradual retirement of Ted Koppel, the show is left in the hands of people like Chris Bury, who simply can’t consistency measure up
I watched last night as Nightline helped the anti-Kerry forces by focusing on the story of the Swift Veterans ads.
The “backgrounder,” the prerecorded package of the story, tried to lay out the history of the story, but the producers apparently had time to fill. They repeated two clips, one each from Bush and Kerry, twice during the background piece. Perhaps because they didn’t book any of the principals in story. Instead, in the live segments, they carted out two opposing surrogates for the Dems and GOP – Roger Simon and Tony Blakely, the former a US News & World Report political correspondent and the latter an editorial writer for the Washington Times.
Ironically, the backgrounder included a comment from Richard Viguerie, the wealthy conservative known for funding the slimiest of tactics, who admitted that the strategy was simply to put up a little money for the ad and hope the free media will do the rest: “Let the free media do it” is I believe how he put it.
After the background piece, Bury teased the live session by asking “Why did John Kerry respond the way he did?” suggesting that maybe Kerry overreacted or somehow we should question a man when he defends himself against such mean attacks.
Simon pointed out the obvious: that the free media made this story. Bury said, “It’s easy to blame the media.” I’d say like shooting fish in a barrel.
There was one elucidating graphic: Of the 527 groups, those supporting Kerry have raised 87% of all such funds; the Bushies only 13%. The campaigns were not that far about: Bush $230 million vs. Kerry at $183 million.